Black and White Photography & Photoshop Use

Yes the photo is very Ansel Adams style. I dont think there is anything wrong with using photoshop to enhance photos especially when it comes to digital photography. Sometimes a digital camera cannot capture things correctly, bypassing whatever skill you have as a photographer. I find its best to take photos in color then convert them to black and white in photoshop. NOT by using convert to grayscale mind you. There are several good methods of converting a photo to black and white in photoshop. Do you not think using photoshop is any different to using a darkroom? If you were manipulating objects in photoshop to make your photo look better than I would disapprove unless you were doing photo manipulation art. Otherwise I dont see anything wrong with changing tones, contrast etc with photoshop.

I love your picture! I visited the Ansel Adams gallery in yosemite village in 2003 and was completely dumbstruck.

Since I only became interested in photography since getting a digital camera, I can't really relate to the purity of film and SLR.
Personally, I don't like to alter my pictures very much, but I do crop and rotate and fiddle a bit with brightness and contrast to get them looking their best.

I really like this photo. I think photographers show their real talent when taking simple black and white shots. Personally, I love the colourful nature that surrounds us, so I usually take photos that reflect the beautiful colours. However, I also like black and whites, but mainly for human subjects.

I read this once: "Normal shots show the colour of your clothes, black and white shots show the colour of your soul."

The real, most beautiful shots in my opinion are simple in nature. It shows what I like to think as "true talent".

As for Photoshop... Yes and no. If you don't have a good photo from the start, it's very hard to turn it into anything worthwhile. Editing a photo is another talent. Taking a photo requires the right kind of light, exposure, angle, and many other things. To change the colours, or recut it, takes a different kind of mind.

Because I like strong colours, I will sometimes change them to they're brighter... Sometimes I like to turn my photos black and white. Resizing and changing the frame is the most common thing I'll do in Photoshop. Although it may or may not add to the photo as a whole, it's certainly not the same thing as taking the shot in the first place.

And anyway, it's so much cooler when you use a traditional camera. You feel so powerfully antique, old and original.

This kind of pgotography is really cool and nice. the real stuff is in this photography. The coloured one is also good but not as that

Me too i'm using an old school camera for photography i'm currently using a canon ae-1 even though i have a canon eos 400d i still prefer to use most of the time the slr one, I think altering images using photoshop is not bad since you only use it for enhancing your photos colors, brightness etc... not altering the whole thing...

Cool photo. I love black and white photography. Contrast can many times tell more of a story than color.

All that said, I only use my digital SLR now. Photoshop is God's gift to photography! You can do so much with Photoshop. I took some photos for stock photography of my daughter, but she had a scar on her arm. With Photoshop I was able to edit the scar out and the photo has sold many times. I don't think it would have if I hadn't altered it.

I always think of photography as an art. I don't paint or even draw well, but I do have an eye for photography. It's my art. There are may artists in the past who have told great stories with their works, but they are not life-like or actual renditions of what they painted. They altered them to tell their story. A photographer using Photoshop is no different. I can take a picture, alter it, and tell an interesting story with it.

I guess it all comes down to how you see it.

i don't know about Photoshop or photography
but i love if someone capture me with his camera and i love black and white image look so naturally

Good for you for being so creative. I think the picture is great and unique on it's own. However..such programs do have thier merit too..while working on other things. We also need a better program..because now as a writer..I find I am getting more jobs that may require it....posters, invitations..etc. I admire photographers..and I think it is a great creative endeavour.

i also have a digital camera and its ok. its not wonderful though. i use photoshop sometimes, but just to have fun. i always save a copy of the original photo. you can make some really cool effects with photoshop.

Hi

Firstly your pic is very good!! There is nothing like a GOOD black and white pic!

The details you can get is amazing!

But........ it has to be GOOD!

Photoshop....................

Lots of Photographers now use this programme, and of course, if you are fairly adept with PC's and are an "arty person", then most other users can use the programme as well!

We use it a lot now-a-days, my wife was a Semi-Professiional model, and she got quite "In" to it, at the time!!

Now she is fairly "Adept" with the thing, and the good thing about the progame is ..... if your pics are not quite what you expected, then with a little enhancement, they can be made to be quite decent!!!!

In the right place, then photshop is an excellent tool!!!

However, I have seen instances whereby the model is way to fat for the actual shot, and her figure has been re-done to standards that do NOT resemble the actual photo!!